Why am I writing this blog?

Today a friend of mine asked me why I am writing this blog.  I replied that I have so many thoughts swirling around in my head that I needed to get out, and this was much easier than writing it down in a diary.  That is what used to do long before blogs ever existed.  But then I got to thinking, why AM I writitng this blog.  I guess the underlying answer is that living here is much different than I had ever imagined before I moved.  When I was first considering moving to Italy I imagined it was probably pretty similar to living in America, it was Western Europe after all, how could it be that different!? Right?  WRONG.  I suppose I would have liked to have been able to talk to someone who had been living this life before I came or even to have read about it.  I am not saying that life here is bad, it is just different, some good some bad, which is of course true about anywhere you live.  I am lucky to have made a group of other expat friends that live in my area with whom to share similar stories and frustrations, but this is a way to get it all out there as it comes to me.  So I guess it is just a compilation of my experiences, perceptions and ideas as an American married to an Italian living and raising her child in rural Italy.  But I suppose you probably could have got that from the title.